“Are you ready to finish your book?” Sally laughed as she sat down at the table in the corner. “I just started and already you want me to finish it?” “I’m not asking you to write the end of the book, I just wanted to talk to you today about how knowing the black moment, and the ending actually gives power to your first act. Think of Act 1 and Act 3 as the “bookends” of your novel. They are the before and after pictures of your novel. Even if they begin in a happy place, there is still something that will cause your hero to become a better person through the book and they’ll with that lesson learned. “They learn that lesson by experiencing the Black Moment, having their […]
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What if the HERO was the HEROINE? – Turning Your Story Upside Down
I started reading a great book last week and about a third of the way through a thought hit me: What if THE HEROINE was THE HERO and THE HERO was THE HEROINE? Meaning, what if their rolls were reversed? Suddenly the book became much more interesting and the one on my Kindle seem kind of status quo. Sure, some of the other plot points would be different if SHE was a HE, but it would also raise new, more intriguing plot obstacles. In an historical book, it might be hard to switch rolls. If you were writing about the Alamo, it would be hard to have a man spying on General Santa Anna since the spy was a female prostitute. But, what if you took an historical event, like […]
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Conversations: The basics of writing a Suspense Novel
“How is your writing going? Do you feel ready to dive into crafting the Black Moment and Epiphany?” I asked Sally as she came to the table with a chai latte. “Not yet. I want to write a suspense into my romance.” Sally sat down and pulled out her notebook. Outside, the sun shrank the snow banks, spring in the air. “I watched Eagle Eye on FX over the weekend, and I realized how much I love suspense.” “I love suspense too,” I said. “A romantic suspense combines the fun of falling in love with that edge-of-your-seat-fear that the people we care about could get killed. “Let’s take a look at what that would mean for your story. Writing a romantic suspense means adding another story structure/plot to your novel. […]
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Quick Skills: Finding you Romance Story Arc
If you are writing a romance, it can sometimes be difficult to know exactly how to build all the pieces so that you have the right amount of tension in your story. How soon do you make them fall in love? When do you start breaking them up? How do they get back together? This problem is solved by understanding the two main story arcs of romance: The Why/Why Not, or the Why Not/Why. (These arc models apply to both a straight up romance, or just a romance thread.) Understanding the kind of story you have helps you understand how to layer in the tension and where to insert the different components of your romance. Let’s a take a look: The first structure is Why/Why Not: These are stories that […]
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